Party line vote expected for Senate health care repeal

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, Ken Strickland, and Carrie DannRepublicans will take a final stab this afternoon at repealing the health care law in the halls of Congress, but it's expected that the vote will go the same way that most of the debate over the legislation has gone: along party lines.

The Senate vote, expected between 5-6 pm ET Wednesday, will technically be on a "point of order" that would essentially nix the GOP effort to repeal the law.

Several Democrats who are up for re-election in 2012 are under pressure from outside conservative groups to side with Republicans and support the repeal effort.

The Tea Party Express has urged its supporters to flood the offices of Sens. Jim Webb of Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Jon Tester of Montana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri with calls lobbying for repeal.

FreedomWorks, an organization chaired by former Majority Leader Dick Armey, has targeted those five lawmakers as well as Bill Nelson of Florida, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.

But Democratic leaders are optimistic that none of their party members will defect.

Sens. Manchin and Ben Nelson - the Senate Democrats who have been the most outspoken about potential problems with the legislation - have both said publicly that they will not side with Republicans on the vote. And a spokeswoman for Tester tells NBC News that the Montana lawmaker will not vote for repeal.

It's also likely that the Senate will pass a bill this afternoon that strikes one almost universally unpopular provision from the health care law: the "1099" language that requires small businesses to submit IRS tax forms for every vendor whom they pay more than $600.

There are several competing versions of the measure that would roll back the 1099 language, sponsored by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Democratic aides say that the most likely of these to pass is one introduced by Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. She's also up for re-election next year.